The Secure Sentinel Network (SSN)—Sentinels as Pheromone Traps

How can pheromone traps help businesses, farmers, families, and individuals protect themselves from cyberattacks on the food supply chain, like ransomware and phishing? 

What the heck do pheromone traps have to do with computer networks and cybersecurity? We’re going to provide answers to that question.

As cybersecurity professionals, we get wrapped up in technology terms, acronyms, and industry jargon that can be confusing to people outside of the information technology business. So we’re going to discuss cybersecurity in terms of an agricultural tool called a pheromone trap. Our goal is to educate our clients on their potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities and show them affordable, effective, industry-validated solutions.

This post will discuss purpose-built cybersecurity solutions designed for individuals, farmers, and agribusinesses to stop cyberthreats like identity theft, ransomware, and phishing dead in their tracks.

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

• What Is A Pheromone Trap, And What Does It Have To Do With Cybersecurity?
• How Do Pheromone Traps Protect Valuable Crops?
• How Does This Relate To Hackers, Cyberattacks, And Cyber-Ag?
• What Does It All Mean For Farmers And Businesses?

Sentinel Forge Technologies is a specialized cybersecurity company located in Maryland. Our goal is to bring cybersecurity solutions to Maryland’s Agricultural Supply chain and keep our state’s farmers, families, businesses, and supply chains safe from cybercriminals. We serve a diverse base of clients, including specialized agricultural companies and farmers, businesses of all sizes and scopes, families, and individuals.

So What Is A Pheromone Trap, And What Does It Have To Do With Cybersecurity? 

We consulted the knowledge brokers at Wikipedia for some clarification on pheromones:

A pheromone… is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavior of the receiving individuals.

And an agricultural pheromone trap? It’s a cardboard or thin plastic device covered with the pheromones of defoliating insects or crop-specific pests. Farmers place these cards strategically throughout their fields and periodically check to see if certain targeted insects are stuck to the sticky parts of the trap. It’s kind of like high-tech flypaper.

How Do Pheromone Traps Protect Valuable Crops?

Using pheromone traps is a practical, cost-effective way for farmers to reduce the amount of expensive pesticides they use significantly. The traps with the highest densities of targeted insects provide an accurate map of where farmers need to apply pesticides. 

Pheromone traps are highly effective and affordable at less than $1 per trap. Their usage also dovetails perfectly with customary farming practices of visual inspections of fields and crops. That means no added costs, excessive labor, or specialized processes to implement. 

At Sentinel Forge Technologies, we also like to keep our Cyber-Ag solutions simple, effective, and affordable. That’s at the core of our Sentinel Box solution for farmers. 

OK, But How Does This Relate To Hackers, Cyberattacks, And Cyber-Ag?

Our Sentinel Box cyber solution uses the same concept as pheromone traps, except it detects “cyber-pests” trying to infest your digital property. Sentinel Box deploys traps and decoys called Sentinels on your network. These Sentinels are strategically configured to appear exactly like the types of vulnerable systems that hackers would want to exploit.

The Sentinel Box assertively monitors the Sentinels for activity and sends alerts to all designated stakeholders when it detects any potentially harmful interactions.

These alerts will trigger your pre-existing cyber response plan so you can take the proactive steps necessary to prevent any potential threats.

Is Sentinel Box the right cybersecurity solution for your business?

Don’t let ransomware and other types of malware attacks scare you. Together, we can destroy the cyber-pests before they have a chance to infest your digital property. 

At Sentinel Forge Technologies, we focus on providing managed security monitoring and services for businesses of all sizes and scopes with our patent-pending Secure Sentinel Network, or SSN. 

At the core of our SSN, the Sentinel Box is a no-touch early warning system for detecting bad cyber actors trespassing on your private digital property. Like pheromone traps, Sentinel Box lets you know where you’re vulnerable. 

We understand the risks you face in a technology world filled with cyber threats, like ransomware, equipment tampering, and identity theft.

Our goal is to bring advanced cyber-ag technology solutions to Maryland’s Agricultural Supply chain to help keep our state and our nation’s farmers, businesses, families, and food supply safe from cybercriminals.

But what exactly can you do to protect yourself? 

That’s the easy part.

We’re offering a complimentary cybersecurity assessment with no obligation and no cost. Our goal is to provide you with cost-effective, farmer-tested cybersecurity solutions that work. 

Remember, with cybersecurity, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure!